REVIEW: Sunderland Cocktail Week 2025

Sunderland Cocktail Week, an annual celebration of mixology hosted by Sunderland BID and Culture, returned this year with an impressive lineup of over 30 participating venues. Running from January 31 to February 9, the event showcased a diverse range of cocktails, inviting locals and visitors alike to explore the city’s vibrant bar scene.

In the spirit of true investigative journalism, we took on the challenge of sampling as many cocktails as possible to bring our loyal Spark readers an authentic taste of the event. Here’s what we discovered on our cocktail-fueled adventure…

 

Here are our official rankings:

The 3 Stories

Sunderland’s newest, bustling cocktail bar offered up The Love Heart; a cherry vodka based drink with a variety of fruity notes. Whilst the cherry flavour was extremely strong, we did however find it somewhat too tart and sour. The presentation was divine and the mystery of what the Love Heart message would be really peaked our curiosities.

Rating: 6/10

Angelo’s Ristorante

Run by some of the friendliest people in Sunderland, Angelo’s crafted the Blue Poison; a Malibu and ground coconut drink mixed with Blue Curacao to put a fun, colourful twist on Cocktail Week. Angelo’s atmosphere was beyond anything else of the week as the owners were so friendly and welcoming and made sure we both enjoyed ourselves with zero waiting times. The blueness dyed our tongues for about an hour, which the owners said was their funny prank. Suprisngly, the coconut was very sweet (coming from two people who hate coconut), which justified the high score we gave it.

Rating: 7.5/10

Spacebar

To finish you off, much like the skull glass it comes in, Spacebar offered a rum, Tiki Fire, pineapple, passion fruit and cinnamon concoction.

Rating: /10

TTonic

The classic Sunderland nightlife offered yet another great deal with their TTonic Tropic; a fruity refresher about the size of our heads. The combination of the Mango Ciroc and Cointreau with the citrusy notes of the passionfruit, pineapple and lime flavours reflected the exotic neon fun of the venue. Due to it’s colossal size, this drink was undoubtedly the best value for money across all the drinks of the week.

Rating: 9.5/10

The Botanist

The Botanist exceeded expectations with a classy, understated Strawberry and Elderflower Mojito; this refreshing palate cleanser served a perfect mix of sweet strawberry and citrus notes.  This cocktail aided the sophisticated ambiance, accompanied by an acoustic live music set. Perfect for a luxurious palate, the mix of Bacardi, strawberry puree and an elderflower cordial elevated the standards of the week.

Rating: 7.5/10

The Engine Room

The most unique drink of the week was presented by The Engine Room. They presented the Terry’s Tipple; a rich Italian hot chocolate with orange undertones and mixed with Cointreau. Shocking us with it’s warm temperature, this drink might not be for everyone; but the combination of the temperature and the warming alcohol was surprisingly comforting to us on such a dreary, severe winters day. Extremely reminiscent of the classic Christmas confectionery!

Rating: 8/10

Sunderland Bowl

 

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This concoction from Sunderland Bowl perfectly encapsulated the childhood nostalgia of both bowling and the sweets it was inspired by. The Cherry Kiss is a blend of Smirnoff Vodka, Cherry Sourz and lemonade. It brought back memories of those cheeky secret trips to buy a 10p mix-up after school, but with a slight alcoholic twist. Oh, and it most definitely threw us off our bowling game.

Rating: 8/10

Signatures’ Italian

Whilst Signature’s had many drinks on offer, which is reflected in it’s perfect score, we opted for The Porn Star Martini and The Unicorn. This variety of options gave opportunity to perfectly pair with their wide selection of pizzas and pasta dishes. The Unicorn was a sparkly Violet Gin with a lot of glitter, accompanied by a whimsical teapot filled with lemonade, so really it ended up being three drinks in one. The Porn Star Martini, presented with a shot of prosecco, delivered in sweetness and in strength which elevated the already classic drink.

Rating: 10/10

Bar Justice

To fit their fun, colourful interior Bar Justice offered one of their signature Sweet Shop collection cocktails; The Hubba Bubba was a well-crafted mix of vodka, pink gin and tantalising bubble gum flavours to bring you back to those childhood memories. Bar Justice served uniqueness and creativity, and a lot of the colour pink. Whilst we found the bubblegum to be quite overpowering to the alcohol, it allowed us to appreciate the electric atmosphere and joy created in the venue.

Rating: 6.5/10